About The Event

John Hennessy, a pioneer in computer architecture, joined Stanford’s faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. In 1981, he drew together researchers to focus on a technology known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), which revolutionized computing by increasing performance while reducing costs. Hennessy helped transfer this technology to the industry in 1984 by cofounding MIPS Computer Systems, which had an initial public offering in 1989. In 1998, he cofounded Atheros Communications, a pioneer in Wi-Fi technology, and served as Chair of the Board until 2010. He is also the co-author (with David Patterson) of two internationally used textbooks on computer architecture.

Hennessy was the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and served as chair of Computer Science, dean of the School of Engineering, and university provost, before being inaugurated as Stanford’s 10th president. He currently serves on the board of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Cisco Systems, and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), where he is currently chair of the board.

In early 2016, he announced the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, the largest fully endowed graduate-level scholarship program in the world, and after stepping down as president, he became the inaugural Shriram Family Director of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program in September 2016. Scholars will receive full funding to pursue a graduate or professional degree in any of Stanford’s seven schools. The focus of their experience will be both knowledge and leadership development — to prepare a new generation of leaders to make a positive impact on the world.

Diane M. Bryant is a global technology leader with more than three decades of executive leadership in the global semiconductor industry, cloud computing services, artificial intelligence applications, and technology-based healthcare solutions.

Bryant serves as the Chair and CEO of NovaSignal. NovaSignal is a medical technology and data company focused on brain health. Applying advanced technology – robotics and artificial intelligence – direct access to cerebral vascular data is obtained enabling diagnosis of stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other illnesses that present themselves in the brain.

Prior, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Google Cloud, where she focused on accelerating the scale and reach of Google Cloud’s business, including optimization of the global supply chain, acceleration of customer adoption, and development of next-generation information technology solutions.
Before Google, Bryant spent 32 years at Intel, the last five years as Group President of Intel’s Data

ata Center Group, the worldwide organization that develops server, storage, and network platforms for the digital service’s economy, growing it to $19 billion in revenue in 2017. Before becoming Group President, Bryant was Intel’s Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, responsible for the corporate-wide information technology solutions and services that enable Intel’s business.

Bryant was elected to the Broadcom Inc. board of directors in January 2019 and serves on the compensation committee. She is currently a board member of the privately held Ownzones, a SaaS AI-driven platform for media post-production.  Diane served on the United Technologies Corp (UTC) board of directors from 2016 to April 2020. She is also the chair of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Board of Advisors.

Bryant was named among Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2015 and 2016 and is a tireless advocate for women and underrepresented minorities in the fields of engineering and technology. She established the Diane Bryant Engineering Student Center at the University of California-Davis, and the Diane Bryant STEM Innovation Center at the American River Community College. In 2020, Becker’s Healthcare named Diane one of 7 “shaker and mover” leaders affecting health IT. Business Insider ranked Ms. Bryant #6 among the Most Powerful Female Engineers in 2018. In 2016, World Affairs and its Global Philanthropy Forum honored Ms. Bryant with its Global Citizen Award.

Bryant received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from U.C. Davis in 1985. She attended Stanford Graduate School of Business, completing the Executive Program in 2011.  Bryant holds four U.S. patents in mobile computing.

Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D., founded XCOM in 2018 to #keepinventing and to invest with the world’s most creative engineers and businesspeople.
As former chief executive officer and executive chairman of Qualcomm Incorporated, Dr. Jacobs spearheaded its efforts to develop and commercialize fundamental mobile technology breakthroughs that fueled the wireless internet and smartphone revolutions. During his tenure as CEO, Qualcomm’s revenues quadrupled, and its market capitalization doubled. Dr. Jacobs is a prolific inventor with over 80 U.S. patents granted or pending in the field of wireless technology and devices.

He served as a director of Qualcomm Incorporated from June 2005 to March 2018, including as chairman of the board of directors from March 2009 to March 2018 and as executive chairman from March 2014 to March 2018. He served as Chief Executive Officer from July 2005 to March 2014 and as group president of Qualcomm Wireless & Internet from July 2001 to July 2005. In addition, he served as an executive vice president of Qualcomm Incorporated from February 2000 to June 2005.

Dr. Jacobs is a director of Dropbox, Inc., Arm Limited, and FIRST. He is an owner and vice chairman of the Sacramento Kings, who compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science, an M.S. in electrical engineering, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science. He founded Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and was the university’s 2017 Alumnus of the Year. Dr. Jacobs is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Laurie Yoler is a General Partner at Playground Global. An ambitious problem-solver and prolific connector by nature, Laurie has decades of experience building, scaling, and advising companies from seed-stage startups to multinational corporations.

Previously, Laurie was a board member and active strategic advisor for autonomous mobility leader Zoox from its earliest days until it was acquired by Amazon in August 2020. Before that, Laurie was President of Qualcomm Labs at Qualcomm, focused on organic internal growth and inorganic growth for the world’s mobile technology leader. Before that, she was a founder and Managing Director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners, a pioneering technology investment bank, where she helped entrepreneurs and their boards complete strategic M&A transactions and fundraises.

Laurie was a founding investor and board member at Tesla for almost a decade. Laurie was also a founding executive at Packet Design, focused on building new networking and security companies. Packet Design created a network performance management software company which was later acquired by Ciena.

Throughout her career, Laurie has served as a director and advisor on more than 25 boards spanning public companies, startups, and nonprofits. Currently, she serves on the boards of Bose, Church & Dwight, Leaf Logistics, Lacuna, Branch, Saltbox, and the Computer History Museum, and the advisory boards for Accenture, TTI/Vanguard, and AI4All.

Dedicated to a lifetime of learning, Laurie enthusiastically continues her education at Stanford in subjects such as board governance, biotechnology, biochemistry, neuropsychology, neuroscience, and geology. She also guest lectures for the Engineering, Law, and Business Schools at Stanford.

Asami has a wide-ranging role as Senior Vice President for research and advanced engineering of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML) and Alliance Senior Vice President for the Alliance. He guides NML’s research and technology strategy to ensure the company remains competitive. He was appointed to his current role in April 2014.

Asami has been with NML since 1981. He has helped develop numerous advances in motoring technology, including navigation systems, distance control assist systems, and telematics. In April 2006, he became the Corporate Vice President in charge of the Nissan Research Center and was appointed Senior Vice President in charge of technology planning and advanced engineering in April 2013.
Asami graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. He earned his Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Shinpei Kato is the founder and chairman of the Autoware Foundation and a Project Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo.
Shinpei was a postdoctoral scholar at Keio University, the University of Tokyo, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was an associate professor at the Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University from 2012 to 2016. His expertise includes computer architectures and operating systems for embedded and real-time systems as well as parallel and distributed systems.

Dr. Kitazaki is a producer at AIST Solutions, which was established on April 1, 2023. His duty is to produce new services and products for the well-being of people, including mobility services, nursing, rehabilitation, and health care. The new services and products will be produced with a strong industry partnership based on outcomes of research on human science being conducted at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Dr. Kitazaki received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Kyoto University, Japan, and his Ph.D. from the University of Southampton, UK. He worked for Nissan Motor as a human factors engineer from 1985 to 2012 for the safety and comfort of driving. He was a professor at the University of Iowa from 2012 to 2015 and researched the on-road safety of older drivers and medically impaired drivers. Dr. Kitazaki joined AIST in 2015 as the director of the Automotive Human Factors Research Center. He became the director of the Human-Centered Mobility Research Center in 2020.

In AIST, Dr. Kitazaki had been leading the national research project on human factors in automated driving from 2016 to 2022. The project was a part of SIP-adus, the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program on Automated Driving for Universal Services, supported by the government of Japan. He has also been serving as a co-chair of the Human Factors Working Group in the EU-US-JP Trilateral Cooperation on automated road transport, co-leader of Germany-Japan research cooperation on human factors in automated driving, and an expert in ISO/TC22/SC39/WG8.

After completing her Master’s at the Graduate School of Sociology, Keio University, Ms. Nakayama joined Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in April 1982. In September 2010, she was named the company’s Deputy General Manager of its Global Brand Coordination Bureau. In April 2011, she took a position with the city of Yokohama government and became Director of its Culture and Tourism Bureau in 2012. In June 2018, she was named President and Representative Director of the city’s Pacific Convention Plaza. Also in 2018, Ms. Nakayama was selected as CEO and Director of Future Center Alliance Japan at the Yokohama International Peace Conference Center. In 2019, she became a Visiting Professor at the Tama University Graduate School, teaching an adult MBA course.

Ms. Nakayama specializes in management, marketing, branding, statistics, comparative culture, and tourism as well as being an advocate of the M.I.C.E. theory of motivation.

As LNIP’s Asian marketing head, Hiroko is responsible for managing markets in Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan. Her experience includes market intelligence, cross-border business development, technology startups, and management of global executive training programs.

Hiroko is a graduate of Keio University in Japan and holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the USA.

Kamakoti Veezhinathan received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras. He joined the faculty of IIT Madras in 2001 and took over as its Director in January 2022.
He specializes in the area of Computer Architecture, Information Security, and VLSI Design.  He heads the Microprocessor Development Program and the Information Security Education and Awareness Program at IIT Madras, funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. He is a member of the National Security Advisory Board. He was also the Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.  At IIT Madras, he has served as the Chairman, JEE, and Associate Dean, Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research.
He has over 150 publications in International Journals and Conferences, guided many research scholars in their Ph.D. and Master of Science (by research) programs. He has coordinated and successfully delivered close to 50 projects from Industry and Government R&D establishments. He serves on the Technology committees of the National Stock Exchange and Reserve Bank of India.

Dr. Kamakoti is the recipient of the DRDO Academic Excellence Award, Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association Techno Visionary Award, ‘Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship,’ ACCS Lifetime Achievement Award, IBM Faculty Award, and VASVIK Industrial Research Award.

Swapna Gupta is a Partner at Avaana Climate and Sustainability Fund, leading Investments into technology-led start-ups catalyzing climate solutions and sustainability, and delivering exponential returns. Swapna has 13+ years of experience across investing, investment banking, and corporate finance in sectors including Supply Chains, Industry 4.0, Mobility, and Agri-tech. Before joining Avaana, Swapna led India investments at Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venture arm of global semiconductor technology major Qualcomm, where she invested in various companies including Shadowfax, Ninjacart, Locus, Zuddl, Moveinsync, Reverie, and Stellapps. Swapna’s stellar work in the ecosystem has been recognized worldwide, and she was also recently recognized by GCV as a Top 50 emerging leader in the corporate venture community and was the only one from India on the list. Swapna is also part of class 25 at the prestigious Global Kauffman fellows program. Previously, Swapna worked as a senior associate at Ernst & Young and as a corporate finance specialist at Vodafone India. She is an Engineer in ECE from NIT Nagpur and has specialized in MBA Finance from FMS Delhi.

Nruthya Madappa is the Partner and Head of Growth and Capital Development at 3one4 Capital.
She supports investments, topline, and capital growth for the portfolio at the firm, and works closely with global institutional and strategic investors to drive the growth of 3one4-portfolio companies. Her team partners deeply with portfolio companies in planning and achieving financial and strategic objectives including capital raises, revenue acceleration, M&A, and exits.

Over her career in the US and India, Nruthya led global teams across technology, finance, real estate, education, and economic policy. Before 3one4 Capital, Nruthya founded and led The CoWrks Foundry (a business accelerator for early-stage companies) as a Managing Partner, investing in over 25 companies and establishing global partnerships with Yale and Columbia University.

Before The CoWrks Foundry, she drove the Revenue and Growth teams at Cuemath. Throughout her career, Nruthya has designed and scaled products and raised capital for high-growth companies – strengths she brings to bear for the 3one4 portfolio.

Nruthya holds Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Avnish is an innovator, disruptor, strategist, and technology evangelist with more than 30 years of extensive experience and a track record around Advisory, Innovation, Digital Transformation, Corporate Strategy, and Leadership Development for Top Fortune 500 clients in both mature and emerging markets.

Avnish’s current role includes scaling Accenture’s digital and innovation capabilities by leveraging the Indian and Global deep-tech start-up ecosystem. He is responsible for partnering, investing, and acquiring leading-edge digital technologies and platforms in areas around AI, Industry 4.0, AR/VR, Blockchain, Big Data, Automation, Robotics, and Quantum computing. Avnish is also leading Accenture’s Venture building program where he helps take internal startups from idea to scale. Avnish is very passionate about Sustainability and works with disruptive startups in the space of Transition to Net Zero, Sustainable value chains, Green Cloud, and IT and ESG Measurement. He has set up the Accenture Sustainability Value Accelerator and Women Founders Fund.

Before Accenture, Avnish worked with IBM in India and the United Kingdom for almost a decade in various leadership roles.

Avnish is a highly sought-after speaker on the Future of Technology, Digital Transformation, Leadership, Building High Performing Teams, the Future of Work, and Making Innovation Work, and he is a regular blogger on Linkedin. He regularly writes on Emerging Technologies, the State of the start-up eco-system in India, Corporate Innovation, Intrapreneurship, and Leadership. He is also an angel investor and has made multiple investments in both Indian and Global startups.

Avnish is a Mentor of Change, Atal Innovation Mission, part of the Board of Governor for IMT- Nagpur, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Israel CoE at IIM-Bangalore, Centre for Research on Startups and Risk-Financing (CREST) at IIT-M and on Start-up committees for FICCI, CII, and Nasscom.

Avnish was awarded the Most Innovative Corporate Leader Award in 2018 and 2021. His mission is to make India a global innovation and deep-tech powerhouse.

Avnish has an MBA (With Distinction) from Warwick Business School, UK, and a Specialization in Strategy from Harvard Business School and INSEAD and in Innovation from MIT and Stanford.

Avnish has served in the Indian Armed Forces for seven years and has performed the role of Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Head of the State (Madhya Pradesh).

Barath Shankar Subramanian joined Accel in 2012 and is a Partner.He has been in the healthcare domain for over a decade, having previously been a senior consultant at Frost & Sullivan where he covered the healthcare and life sciences domains across North America, Europe, and Asia. As a part of the investment team at Accel, Barath is on the board or actively works with management teams at Axio, Consure, Medigo, Onco.com, PharmaCCX, Portea, SigTuple, and other early-stage companies. Barath grew up in Madurai and has a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from BITS, Pilani, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Roopan has 15+ years of experience across Venture Capital, corporate development, and technology. Currently, an MD at pi Ventures, she invests in early-stage Deeptech startups across diverse sectors. Before Pi Ventures, she invested in early to growth-stage global startups at Applied Ventures (the corporate Venture Capital arm of Applied Materials). Before becoming an investor, she worked in DeepTech as a technologist. She holds a BTech degree from NIT Jalandhar and an MBA from ISB Hyderabad.

Ritu Verma is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Ankur Capital – an early-stage fund that focuses on technology innovations for the next billion. The fund has a large focus on Agtech and Food, and Ritu has a keen interest in this area, especially on how technology can be leveraged to increase efficiencies and disrupt agriculture and food.

Ritu is passionate about bringing innovations from the lab to market. Before setting up Ankur, she worked with BASF on sourcing opportunities for renewable energy, agri-biotech, and materials. For over a decade before that, she played different roles at Philips and Unilever across the globe bringing innovations to the market.

She holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s from Middlebury College, Vermont.